Most television viewers now receive their television signals through a content aggregator such as a cable or satellite television provider. For subscribers to a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service, for example, television programming is received via a broadcast that is sent via a satellite to an antenna that is generally located on the exterior of a home or other structure. Other customers receive television programming through conventional television broadcasts, or through cable, wireless or other media. Programming is typically received at a receiver such as a “set top box” (STB) or other receiver that demodulates the received signals and converts the demodulated content into a format that can be presented to the viewer on a television or other display. In addition to receiving and demodulating television programming, many television receivers are able to provide additional features. Examples of features available in many modern television receivers include electronic program guides (EPGs), digital or other personal video recorders, “place-shifting” features for streaming received content over a network or other medium, providing customer service information and/or the like.
While some set-top box type receivers have provided limited customer service features, in general, most viewers still prefer to contact a customer service center via telephone rather than use the box itself for even routine billing or service queries. This is at least partly due to limitations in the conventional interfaces provided by most television receiver devices.
While conventional interfaces are useful for many purposes, there remains a continual desire for more efficient and intuitive user interfaces to the various features provided by the receiver. In particular, there is a desire to provide convenient access to customer service features using more advanced interface features. It is therefore desirable to create systems and methods for improving the viewer interface to customer service features associated with the television receiver. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.